(1) Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to the installation of concealed floor door closer systems. More particularly, the invention relates to means and methods of efficiently installing multiple door closer systems simultaneously and with greater accuracy as compared to the related art.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The known related art fails to anticipate or disclose the principles of the present invention.
In the related art, floor mounted closers are installed in a painstaking process that has failed to evolve over the past 30 years. Prior art installation methods include the use of plumb bobs to find the correct placement point of a spindle and the use of cross members directly attached to a concealed door closer, wherein the concealed door closer is secured in poured concrete. Thus, placement mistakes are costly and time consuming to repair in the prior art wherein concrete is broken apart to readjust a door closer.
In the related art, floor mounted closers are installed one at a time, with no means installing two closers at one time. In the related art, two separate set up protocols must be executed to align and set two door closers. This is a significant shortfall in the prior art as many installations involve two door closers per entrance. The prior art installation of a door closer requires exacting measurements of door threshold components and awkward adjustments of a closer to obtain square or true positioning with respect to floor and door jam components. Even a small error to properly align a door closer will result in a racking or binding of a door or other unacceptable door problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,954 issued to Horgan on Sep. 18, 1990 takes into account the use of a spindle of a door closer in the installation of glass doors, but fails to disclose or anticipate means of efficient alignment of the closer unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,777 issued to Chiang on Oct. 31, 2006 discloses means and methods of adjusting a hinge, but fails to disclose means of proper door alignment in the original installation of a door.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,499,415 issued to Bai on Aug. 6, 2013 discloses a floor spring unit of a door closer but fails to address the challenge of properly installing a door closer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,496,594 issued to Arthur on Feb. 24, 1970 discloses an adjustable coupler for a door closer but fails to address the challenge of properly installing a door closer.
The general use of door closers or door control units is wide spread and may be seen in most commercial buildings. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,160 issued on Nov. 9, 1970 and assigned to Rixson discloses a door control unit having a spindle and various mechanical means of controlling the speed of a door closing. In a commercial setting, main entrance doors, often made of glass, need to be self-closing as building visitors are not going to take time to open and close a door by hand. A door closer needs to be correctly positioned and installed before the door may be secured within the threshold. The door closer needs to be well secured within the floor so as to support a heavy glass door, thus door closers are often secured within a floor by use of concrete. Unfortunately, the prior art fails to provide efficient means of installing door closers, which often leads to the breaking of concrete to reinstall door closers.
Thus, there is a long felt need in the art for the present invention.